@WakeUpCall – Waking Up with the House Whisperer

The House Whisperer Dean Sharp is back on Wake Up Call for another edition of ‘Waking Up with the House Whisperer!’ Today, Dean talks about how to ‘move a house.’

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll say good morning now to the host of home

(00:02):
on KFI. The house whispered Dean Sharp. So Dean, you
have a house, you love it, and you have to move.
You know you could just take it with you.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, in theory, yes you could, in theory. There's some
really interesting things happening in la right now. One of
them that caught my eye earlier this week that I
just wanted to share with you was that as a
result of a very creative solution to losing a home
in the Eton fire in Altadena. And you know, Altadena,

(00:32):
unlike Pacific Palisades, Alta Dina is filled with century homes,
homes that were built in the nineteen twenties, and not
only did people struggle with losing their home to the fire,
but also the idea of like, well, I don't some
residents just didn't want to rebuild a brand new home.
They wanted their one hundred year old home with all

(00:54):
of that old world craftsmanship and such. Well, there's an
architectural firm that had a really creative idea. The name
of the firm is Omgivning om givening. I think I
got that right. It's a Danish word. It means ambiance. Anyway,
they're a really cool architectural firm, and they said, you
know what, we started looking at Los Angeles demolition permits,

(01:19):
in other words, homes that were scheduled to be demolished
in Los Angeles. And you would think, well, nobody wants
that kind of a home. That's not true. Some homes
get scheduled to be demolished because they've been condemned and
they're not worth living in anymore. But a lot of
homes out there, especially older ones, are subject to property
takeovers and various other things, and they're perfectly good homes

(01:43):
that are just scheduled to be torn down because the
owners are making deals to do other things. And here
this architectural firm has found at least two of these
homes that are one hundred year old homes. This one
that I was looking at in the article. Here a
craftsman is a craftsman home. And they made a deal.

(02:05):
They facilitated a deal between the owner of that property
to sell that home for a dollar. And yeah, sell
the home for the materials on the lot for a dollar.
And the new buyers are folks who lost their home
in the Eton fire, and they are paying to have
this home moved. And this actually happened earlier this week

(02:25):
phase one of this. The home was jacked up, put
on soldier piles, and moved twenty four miles across La
to its new home, which is a lot that had
suffered the loss of its century home in Altadena. And
I just think that's the coolest, coolest creative solution, one

(02:48):
of them to having lost a century home.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh yeah, so logistically, you have to take the home apart, right,
You can't just put the whole house up, or can you.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, you have to take it apart. They have to
take it apart in segments. They take it apart in segments.
Used to be if you're out in a rural area,
you could, in theory, transport the entire thing in one move.
But La streets are not that wide. They're not big
enough to handle that, and so you've got to take
the second story gets dismantled, located down in the first story,

(03:23):
and then the first story gets segmented into two or
three parts. And even that is a logistical nightmare. This
home they had to acquire I believe twenty one different
street use permits to get it the twenty four miles
from where it lived to Alta Dina. But the point
is it can be done, and it can be done

(03:45):
for less expense than building a brand new home.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
It'll be interesting to see if it kind of catches on,
you know, like if several people do this.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, I think there's already one other scheduled, and this
architectural firm is actually contacting house by house, lot by lot,
the residents of Alta Dina who've lost homes and finding
out if they're even interested in the idea. I would
imagine there would be a few more takers, but I
don't think it's going to be like a whole thing.

(04:18):
But the idea, though, is one that I love, which is,
you've got a home over in Los phelis a beautiful
craftsman home scheduled to be demolished. Why tear it down?
Why lose all that history? Why lose all that craftsmanship
when it can simply be moved and used by somebody
else who really really needs it on the other side
of town.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
I love that. I love that idea. Yeah, it's cool.
What's old is new and what's new on Home with
Dean Sharp this weekend? What are you gonna be talking about.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
You know what, I'm not sure what we're going to
be talking about, because every few weeks we set aside
the entire weekend to take nothing but calls, and that's
what we're doing this weekend. So as is with our
call shows, our listeners set the agenda so they can
call and talk to me about anything they want, design, construction,
diy architecture, problems with your house, how to fix the

(05:10):
leaky toilet, or what new style they should implement in
their living room and everything in between.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
I love it. And you can call Dean and hear
what he has to say about your home six to
eight tomorrow morning, nine to noon on Sunday. The show
is called Home with Dean Sharp. Very creative name.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
It's a little on point, I know, but you know what,
it gets the job done, all right.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
You can also follow Dean at Home with Dean. I
love the idea of the houses, you know, just preserving
the old. Is it? Good stuff? Dean Sharp, thanks so
much for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Thanks. Amy,